Essay On Encultured Jesus

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Appropriation is often accompanied with negative connotations, but when it comes to Christianity in the Global South, this acquired possession can be looked upon with merit. In African, Asian, and even North American Indigenous Christianity, constructing an appropriate Christology from an appropriated Christianity is important for further development. In numerous writings from theologians of the Global South, there is a reoccurring theme of an encultured Christology. This idea is that the person of Christ is constructed from culture being the starting point, instead of forcing the imposed European image to fit within their culture. An enculturated Jesus is significant to countries in the Global South because it not only allows for people to …show more content…

The multiple images that exist for Jesus is an issue both African and Asian Christians face, but can be solved by their own constructed of an encultured Christ rather than appropriating an existing image. Efoé Julien Pénoukou deals with the problem of multiple images by stating that a Jesus who is delivered from institutions, practices, and popular European theology is required; there must be an enculturation so that so that African Christians no longer think “that the West has delivered Christ to them bound hand and foot.” An encultured Christology supports Pénoukou thesis that a Christological faith can become authentic when takes the shape of the roots of a particular culture. My feelings regarding Pénoukou’s claim to have a Christ freed from European captivity are compliant. The application of a Caucasian Jesus can also be repressive to Northern developed countries, resulting in a Christology that focuses on image and not on the actual mission and actions of Jesus. Not unlike the issue of multiple image of Christ that African Christians must face, Asian Christianity also uses an encultured Jesus to handle the proliferating images of

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